New Survivor Cast Includes Former Child Star & Former MLB Player

Redemption Island is back, reinventing the hit reality show with the ultimate twist - giving the exiled a second chance. Emmy winner Jeff Probst hosts on this island paradise, in the only game on television that's as much fun to watch as it is to play. Contestants navigate overrun jungles and explosive volcanoes, all to take on the tropics and take down adversaries in Survivor South Pacific.

LOS ANGELES (CBS News) — Castaways competing on “Survivor: Philippines” will include a retired MLB player and an ’80s TV star.

Former baseball star Jeff Kent and actress Lisa Whelchel (who played Blair on “The Facts of Life”) are among those competing on the 25th “Survivor” season, which premieres in September.

“That wasn’t me. That was a character. So I’m looking forward to people knowing who I am,” said Whelchel.

CBS announced 15 of the 18 contestants on “Survivor: Philippines” on Monday. The remaining three, who will be revealed later this week, are all former players who were evacuated from their respective seasons for medical reasons.

This season, the castaways will be divided into three tribes, all named after animals in the region: Kalabaw (“water buffalo”), Tandang (“rooster”) and Matsing (“monkey”).

The three tribes will battle for first and second place in order to be granted immunity, the network said, while the third-place team will go to Tribal Council and face elimination.

“Survivor: Philippines” premieres with a 90-minute episode on Wednesday, Sept. 19, at 8 p.m. on CBS.